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Show certain tribes, can be overcome in another generation, and, in the , case of men not too far advanced in years, in this generation. by a proper dietary regimen, which will itself be made possible thru their larger earnings at the pursuits in which they are now engaged. THE ANNUAL FAIR OF THE CFKlWS. So much for the employment of Indians in the public and semi-public labor market.. But I am aware that a multitude of our fellow-citizens who take a humane interest in our aborignal Ameri-cans still cling to the idea that the place to train an Indian to habits - . of industry is at his own home and on his own land. I can truth-fully say that there has been no diminution of effort on the part of the Indian Office in that field either; tho equal frankness demands the statement that it is, on the whole, a far less fruitful and promis-ing expenditure of energy. Not only are the Indians on the reserva-tions suffering now the effects of many years of ration folly, seclu-sion from the currents of the world's activities, and encouragement in the notion that the Government's chief function is that of a benevolent providence, but many of the white teachers who have tried to counteract these influences have adopted unwise methods. They have often left wholly out of account the child-like strand in the Indian's composition, and have proceeded with the task of mak-ing him over as if, with mature judgment, he would rejoice at the chance of being made over, and lend his hearty cooperation instead. of resisting my change with all his might. ' The failures, as a matter of course, have been many. The comparatively few successefi - have been achieved by virtue of taking a right point of departure- that is, by recognizing the Indian as an Indian, and remembering that he has a natural taste for ceremony, color, music; that he lives much in the memory of his old times and their associations, from which his gradual separation has been not without its real pangs; and that the few competitive struggles known to his own social system have always been in the showy rather than the practical domain. By so arranging his induction into our order of things as to adapt it to him as far as possible, rather than tryingto bend him . alone to accord with it, the sane and clever teachers have made some headway. ' - Conspicuous among the devices which have given promise of good results locally is the annual fair of the Crow Indians in Montana. ' At the risk of turning a public report into an entertaining narrative, I feel impelled to present an account of 'that enterprise here, and to accompany it with the name of the author of the plan, and super-visor of its execution, S. G. Reynolds, United States Indian .agent for the tribe. He has shown what can be accomplished by energy, |
